


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



sT"- 



ADDENDA. 

For the second paragraph on page 7 of pamphlet of 
October i, entitled *^ In the Beginning," read as follows: 

In Cincinnati, at the outbreak of the War, we had 
quite a number of militia companies, mostly skeleton 
organizations, and effective only in name. Of the whole 
number, only six made their mark during the war. The 
Rover Guards furnished one company each to the 2d, 5th, 
and 137th regiments; the Zouaves one company each to 
the 2d, 5th and 137th regiments; the Highland Guards, a 
company composed entirely of citizens of Scottish birth or 
the direct descendants of such, and who gave to the service 
such line officers as Colonels Patrick, Kilpatrick, Kirkup 
and Yerkes, recruited three companies for the 5th Ohio ; 
the Continentals three companies for the 5th Ohio ; the 
LaFayette Guards one company each for the 2d and 5th 
Ohio regiments, and the Guthrie Grays recruited the 6th 
Ohio Infantry. 



IN THE BEGINNING 



— READ BEFORE THE 



OHIO COMMANDERY, 



OF THE 



Loyal Legion ofthe United States 



OCTOBER 1, 1884 



BY COMPANION 



GKORGE M. FINCH, 



LATE LIEUTENANT-COLONEL 137TH 0. V. L 



Cincinnati: 

PETER G. THOMSON, 

1884. 



■1 1' 



^^ 



IN EXCHAHGE 
JAN 5 ^ 1915 



IN THE BEGINNING, 



The fifth day of October, i860, is the initial point of 
the American Rebellion, Its conception, and probably its 
plans, lay much further back. On that day Governor Gist, 
of South Carolina, wrote a confidential circular-letter to 
the governors of what were commonly called the Cotton 
States, suggesting secession from the Union, as soon as it 
was ascertained that a majority of Lincoln electors were 
chosen at the then pending presidential election. 

The morning of November 7th brought the certain 
news of the election of Lincoln and Hamlin on the pre- 
vious da}^ and the rejoicings which would have been ut- 
tered throughout the South over their defeat, became jubi- 
lations, that their success offered the long-coveted pretext 
for disunion. The South Carolina Convention met Decem- 
ber 17, i860, and on the fourth day of its term passed 
unanimously what it called an " Ordinance of Secession." 
Conspiracy was not confined to South Carolina or the Cot- 
ton States ; unfortunately, it had established itself in the 
highest official circles of the national administration. Three 
members of President Buchanan's Cabinet — Cobb, Flo3'd 
and Thompson — had become active and ardent disunion- 
ists. With their followers, they formed a central secession 
cabal in Washington City, to promote the success of the 
Southern Confederacy. 

I know that there be angry spirits 
And turbulent mutterers of stifled treason, 
Who lurk in narrow places, and walk out 
Muffled, to whisper curses to the night. — Byron. 

Note. — The writer desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to Mr. Nico- 
lay's valuable contribution to the "Campaigns of the Civil War." 

(3) 



— 4 — 

December 24th the South Carolina representatives 
withdrew from the United States Congress, and Governor 
Pickens formally demanded that the President order the 
immediate Vv'ithdrawal of all United States troops stationed 
in South Carolina. 

On Christmas night, i860. Fort Moultrie was evacuat- 
ed, and Major Anderson's command removed to Fort 
Sumter, December 31st Senator Benjamin delivered his 
great secession speech, in the Senate, closing with the as- 
sertion "that the South could never be subjugated," and 
Senator Pryor, of Virginia, introduced in the Senate a res- 
olution declaring "that any attempt to preserve the Union 
by force would be impracticable." 

The same day the authorities of South Carolina seized 
all forts in Charleston Harbor, except Sumter, and took 
forcible possession of the United States revenue cutter 
"Aiken." January 3, 1861, all the United States forts in 
Georgia and Alabama were seized by the State authorities. 
One southern State after another formally seceded from the 
Union. January 9th the steamer "Star of the West" at- 
tempted to enter Charleston Harbor to re-inforce and pro- 
vision Fort Sumter, but was fired upon by batteries erected 
on Morris Island, and, being hulled twice, was forced to 
abandon the effort and put to sea. 

Outrage upon outrage, and insult upon insult were 
heaped upon the Federal Government, and not a blow 
struck in return. 

Oh, for a tongue to curse the slave, 

Whose treason, like a deadly blight, 
Comes o'er the councils of the brave, 

And blasts them in their hour of might. — Moore. 

The politicians were tinkering, and trying to patch up 
the old Ship of State with compromises, while the nation 
was being strangled by its enemies. As late as February 
1 6th, Harper's Weekly began an editorial on compromise, 
with these words, "We trust that our southern friends," 
etc. February 4th, at the invitation of Virginia, a Peace- 
Conference, of which ex-President Tyler was chosen chair- 



— 5 — 

man, met in Washington City, to "draft a scheme of ad- 
justment," etc. February 9th Jeff. Davis was elected presi- 
dent of the southern confederacy, by the southern Congress, 
assembled at Montgomery, Alabama. March 9th a prom- 
inent Republican newspaper, published in New York City, 
had a leading editorial upon "Compromise and reconcilia- 
tion." 

During all these days and nights of humiliation and 
feverish excitement, I can only recall one act on the part 
of a leading official, that let a ray of sunshine shine in on 
the hearts of patient, long-suffering and patriotic Americans, 
who almost despaired of the upholding of the power and 
dignity of the great Nation, by their representatives in the 
Capital. 

On the 29th of January, t86i, the following telegram 

was sent from Washington City by General John A. Dix, 

Secretary of the Treasur}' : 

William Hemphill Jones, New Orleans: — 

Tell Lieutenant Caldwell to arrest Captain Brushwood, assume command 
of the cutter "McClelland," and obey the order I gave through you. If Cap- 
tain Brushwood, after arrest, undertakes to interfere with the command of 
the cutter, Lieutenant Caldwell is to consider him as a mutineer, and treat 
him accordingly. If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot 
him on the spot. John A. Dix, Secretary of the Treasury. 

The assault upon Fort Sumter had, doubtless, been 
ordered by the rebel government, under the hope, if not 
the belief, that it would not provoke immediate nor wide- 
spread civil war. The South well knew that the frontier 
could not be entirely stripped of regular troops ; they as- 
sumed, or so pretended, that existing laws authorized no 
call of the militia. Potent public voices had declared that 
the North would neither entertain nor permit a policy of 
subjugation. 

January 6, i860, ex-President Pierce — Buchanan's 
predecessor — wrote, " Without discussing the question of 
right, of abstract power, to secede, I have never believed 
that actual disruption of the Union can occur without blood- 
shed ; and if, through the madness of Northern Abolition- 
ism, that dire calamity must come, the fighting will not be 



— 6 — 

along Mason's and Dixon's line merely ; it will be within 
our own borders ; in our own streets ; between the two 
classes of citizens to whom I have referred. Those who 
defy law and scout constitutional obligations will, if we 
ever reach the arbitrament of arms, find occupation enough 
at home." 

It even appeared that the spirit of secession w'as find- 
ing a lodgment in the North. A well-known and promi- 
nent politician in Ohio said, in a public speech, "That no 
soldiers of the North should coerce their fellow-citizens of 
the South, without first marching over his dead body." 
Others urged that the "wayward sisters be allowed to de- 
part in peace." The firing on Sumter cleared up the po- 
litical atmosphere as if by magic. Incredulity was changed 
to fact. There was no longer room to doubt. This was 
no riot. The conspirac}^ had given way to revolution. 
The news of the assault on Sumter reached Washington 
on Saturday, April 13th. On Sunday morning, the 14th, 
the President and Cabinet were met to discuss the surren- 
der and evacuation. Lincoln, with his own hand, immedi- 
ately drafted his proclamation calling for seventy-five 
thousand militia for the defense of the National Capital, 
and it was telegraphed and published to the country on 
Monday, April 15th. The whole country' seemed to awake 
as from a feverish dream, and perplexed counsel faded 
from the public mind. Parties vanished from politics, and 
from every Governor of the free States came a prompt re- 
sponse to the President's call for militia. Previous to this 
time, but little attention or encouragement had been given 
to the organization of the militia, especially in the West. 
As for the regular army, I quote from a leading New York 
newspaper of February 23, 1861 : 

"OUR ARMY AND NAVY." 

" Europe is laughing prett}- heartily at our army and 
nav}^ arrangements in this countr3\ The}^ say that the late 
Lord Ellesmere, w^ho proclaimed that the United States 
was the most war-like nation in the world, must have been 



— 7 — 

a wag. Of late, it must be admitted, these departments of 
our Government have not shown to advantage. Of our 
army, which numbers nearly 15,000 effective men, not 1,000 
could be rallied by the Lieutenant-General commanding 
for the defense of Washington. Then, the arms of our 
troops are far from being equal to those of European sol- 
diers. With all the braver}- in the world, an American 
regiment could not stand against an English or a French reg- 
iment, simply because the latter are so much better armed." 

In Cincinnati, at the outbreak of the war, we had 
quite a number of militia companies, mostly skeleton or- 
ganizations, and effective only in name. Of the whole 
number only five made their mark during the war. The 
Rover Guards furnished one company each to the 2d, 5th, 
and 137th Ohio regiments ; the Zouaves, one company 
each to the 2d and 137th regiments ; the Continentals re- 
cruited the 5th Ohio ; and the Guthrie Grays, the 6th Ohio 
and one company to the 137th regiment ; the La Fayette 
Guards, one company to the 2d regiment. 

The writer, then but a boy of seventeen, had, several 
years before, enlisted in the oldest and one of the most 
famous of the companies named, the old Rover Guards, — 
so named in honor of Fenimore Cooper's hero of the sea. 
The uniform was modeled after that of the English Grena- 
dier Guards, bear-skin shakos, scarlet coat and pants, faced 
and trimmed with buff, blue and gold. 

The esprit du corps was high, and in those ante-bcllmn 
days their fame went far and wide. Their excursions 
were many, and their entertainment of visiting soldiery 
regal in luxury and magnificence. No civic procession 
was complete without the "Red Rovers" marched at its 
head ; their drill and soldierly bearing were voted perfec- 
tion, and they were victors "on many a bloodless field." 
No one of us cares to admit that he is growing old, but 
when we refer to scenes "before the war," in which we 
took a manly part, we must admit that we are on the down- 
hill side of life ; but I hope never to live to that age that 



memory will fail me, and I be unable to recall those hal- 
cyon days of youth, when first I followed the "wry-necked 
fife and ear-splitting drum," and marched in the ranks of 
the Rovers. 

Nearly thirty years ago, in the uniform of my company, 
I marched with my comrades into this very hotel to attend a 
banquet given in honor of Washington's birthday. I can 
well remember, as if but yesterday, the gallant soldier sit- 
ting at the head of the table. As straight as an arrow, 
"bearded like a pard," with magnetic voice and graceful 
dignity, he was "every inch a soldier," and one born to 
command. As he spoke in response to the first toast, his 
witching eloquence captured his auditors, and filled my 
boyish soul with military ambition. 

He alluded to Cuba as "the little black-eyed, coy 
damsel, waiting, with outstretched arms, to fall like a ripe 
peach into the embrace of lusty Uncle Sam," and predict- 
ed a speedy war with Spain. 

He was no prophet, for the war with Spain came not, 
but in less than five years the giants North and South had 
locked arms in a deadly struggle, that could only end with 
the exhaustion of one or the other, and the brave and gal- 
lant Lytle, the Chevalier Bayard of our red-coated corps, 
sans penr et sans ref>roche^ had given his best heart's blood 
for his country, and his bones lay bleaching on the bloody 

battle-field of Chickamauga. 
********* 

When, on that bright spring morning, the 15th of 
April, 1861, the President's proclamation and call for seven- 
t3^-five thousand volunteers for the defense of the National 
Capital came flashing over the wires, the " Old Rovers" 
showed their mettle. Before daybreak, on the morning of 
the 17th, in but little over forty hours, they bade friends 
and homes good-bye, perchance forever, and with fife and 
drum, playing " The Girl I Left Behind Me," marched 
briskly to where duty called. It is doubtful if any other 
milida company in the country furnished so many capable 



— 9 — 

officers for the Federal armies during the rebellion. In its 
ranks once served Generals Lytle, Bates, Parr}-, Kennett, 
and Sargent. Colonels NefF, John Kennett, Cross, Bosley, 
Burdsal, Littler, Bown, and Finch. Majors Symmes, 
Wallace, Parry, and Gaul. Captains Saunders, DeBus, 
Startzman, Paver, Swift, Bown, Lord, Young, Calvert, and 
Chamberlain. Lieutenants Athearn, Young, Irwin, Burton, 
Whelpley, Moonert, Powell, and Flenner. The company 
reached Columbus before noon on the 17th, where their 
identity as the "Red Rovers" became merged into plain 
and democratic Co. A, 2d Reg. Ohio Infantry. With 
their comrades of the 1st and 2d Regiments, they left the 
State the same evening, and such was the celerity of their 
movements, they reached Harrisburg, Pa., the same day 
the Massachusetts Sixth was mobbed in the streets of Balti- 
more. Being at that time unarmed, we were halted at 
Harrisburg to be uniformed and equipped, and in a few 
days, under the command of that accomplished soldier. Gen . 
Alexander McDowell McCook, we followed the march of 
the 6th Massachusetts through Baltimore City, and went 

into a camp of instruction in the suburbs of Washington. 
******* 

In celebrating the attack and the fall of Sumter, at 
Montgomery, by a congratulatory speech, the rebel Secre- 
tary of War ventured to predict, that the Confederate flag 
would float over the Capital at Washington before the first 
of May. The authorities at the National Capital watched 
the development of the rebellion in the neighboring States 
of Virginia and Maryland with the keenest anxiety. 
There was great doubt as to the disposition and loyalty of 
the resident population ; and the startling succession of dis- 
asters to the Union Cause created a profound impression. 
Virginia's secession on the 17th; Harper's Ferr}^ lost on 
the 1 8th ; Baltimore in arms, and the North effectually 
cut off" on the 19th ; the Gosport Navy Yard sacrificed on 
the 20th — where would the tide of misfortune stop? Gen- 
eral Scott's chief reliance for the protection of the 



lO 



Capital of the Nation, was on six companies of troops of 
the regular army, which he had concentrated from various 
parts of the country in driblets, among them being two 
light batteries of exceptionally good discipline and drill. 
The first substantial arrival of volunteer troops was by way 
of Annapolis, April 25th. Disembarking from the cars 
amid the welcome shouts of an assembled throng, and 
forming with all the ready precision of their holiday drill, 
they marched wath exultant music and gaily fluttering ban- 
ners up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Executive Mansion to 
receive the President's thankful salute. With their arrival, 
about noon of the 25th of April, all the gloom, and doubt, 
and feeling of danger to the Capital vanished. In com- 
parison with unmurmuring endurance that trudged through 
the Yazoo Swamps, and the unflinching courage that faced 
the dreadful carnage of the Wilderness, later in the war, 
this march of the volunteers from Annapolis to the Junction, 
and rebuilding a few burned bridges, was the merest mili- 
tary picnic ; but it has become historic, because it marked 
a turning-point in the national destiny, and signified the 
will of the people that the Capital of the Union should re- 
main where George Washington planted it. 

At two o'clock, on the morning of May 24th, three 
columns crossed the Potomac and entered on the "sacred 
soil " of the Old Dominion ; three regiments by the Aque- 
duct at Georgetown ; four regiments by the Long Bridge 
from Washington ; and one regiment, Ellsworth's Zouaves, 
from their camp below the city, directly b}' steamer to Al- 
exandria, the war steamer " Pawnee " being anchored off" 
shore to protect the landing. 

It had been a beautiful moonlight night, and who that 
took part in that night's march over the Long Bridge can 
ever forget, while memory holds its own, the feeling of 
solemnity that pervaded the entire column, as we marched 
in the pale moonlight. Where before jocund mirth and 
song, and noisy hilarity had enlivened the march, now all 
was hushed and quiet, expecting resistance at every step. 



— II — 

The crossing was speedily and safely made, and daylight 
found us in bivouac on the Alexandria and Loudon railroad, 
near Falls Church. 

The whole enterprise seemed on the very point of a 
most successful conclusion, when sudden news of the as- 
sassination of Colonel Ellsworth, not only saddened the 
camps on both sides of the Potomac, but cast a new gloom, 
and spread a feeling of bitter vindictiveness throughout 
every loyal State. Colonel Ellsworth was a 3'oung man of 
twenty-four, who, by the possession of a phenomenal com- 
bination of genius, energy, and self-confidence, had worp 
the admiration and attention of the whole country. As a mat- 
ter of pastime, while studying law in Chicago, he had formed 
a company of about sixty youths, clerks and business em- 
ployees, for military exercise. Into their instruction he threw 
such a degree of enthusiasm, such originality in remodelling 
and adapting old methods, such a grasp of purpose, and such 
a genius of control, that he formulated the bold project of an 
extended tour through the great cities of the North, to show 
that he had the best drilled company in the country. When 
they finally returned to Chicago, the name and fame of 
Ellsworth and his "Chicago Zouaves" were a part of the 
just interest and pride of the whole country. 

The inauguration over. President Lincoln made Ells- 
worth a second lieutenant of cavahy in the regular army. 
Then came Sumter and the call for volunteers, and Ells- 
worth saw his opportunity. Hastening to the cit}- of New 
York, he called a meeting and harangued the volunteer 
fire companies of the metropolis, and in three days enlisted 
a regiment of eleven hundred men, who chose him their 
colonel, and were mustered for three jears. 

It was at the head of this regiment that Colonel Ells- 
worth entered Alexandria at daylight of May 24th. The 
small force of rebels occup3ang the city escaped capture. 
Having seen the place securely occupied, and pickets posted 
to prevent surprise. Colonel Ellsworth remembered the 
rebel flag which for weeks had been flaunting an insulting 



— 12 — 

defiance to the National Capital, It was hoisted over the 
Marshall House, the principal hotel in Alexandria, and the 
Colonel was seized with the whim to take it down with his 
own hands — a foolish fancy, perhaps, when considered in 
cool judgment, but ver}'^ natural to the heated enthusiasm 
of those early days of burning patriotic ardor. He mounted 
to the roof with one or two companions, cut the halyards, 
and started down with the treasonable emblem on his arm. 
The stairs were narrow and winding, and they could only 
descend in single file — a soldier preceded and followed him. 
, ^s he reached the third step above the landing on the 
second floor, a side door flew open, and the owner of the 
house, a man named Jackson, who had been lurking there 
in concealment, like a tiger for his pre}^, sprang out, and 
leveling a double-barrelled shot-gun, discharged full mto 
the Colonel's breast the fatal charge, driving almost into 
his very heart a gold presentation badge inscribed, '•'-Non 
nobis, scd pro -patriay 

Ellsworth fell forward in death without a groan ; but 
the murder did not go unavenged, for in the same instant 
his assassin also expired by the double eff'ect of a musket 
charge and a bayonet-thrust from Ellsworth's foremost 
companion. 

Ellsworth was buried with imposing honors from the 

famous east room of the Executive Mansion, the President, 

Cabinet, and high officers of the Government attending as 

mourners ; and as the telegraph filled the newspapers with 

details of the sad event, every household in the North felt 

as if the dark shadow of a funeral had lowered over its 

own hearthstone. 

******* 

General Scott, Commander-in-Chief, was of the opin- 
ion that the Government ought not to engage in an}^ offen- 
sive military movements with the three months' troops, 
whose term of service was rapidly approaching the end. 
These operations should onl}^ be undertaken with the new 
armies of the three years' volunteers, after giving the sum- 



— 13 — 

mer to drill and preparation. Important reasons, partly 
military and partly political, conflicted with so deliberate a 
programme. The highly excited patriotism of the North, 
eager to wipe out national insult, was impatient of what 
seemed tedious delay. The echoes of the Sumter bom- 
bardment were yet in the air ; the blood on the Baltimore 
paving stones was crying loudly to Heaven. It saw rebel- 
lion enthroned in the Capital of Virginia ; it saw a numer- 
ous Union army gathered at Washington ; the newspapers 
rai?ed the cry of " On to Richmond," and the popular 
heart beat in quick and well-nigh unanimous response 
to the slogan. 

A detachment sent out from fortress Monroe by Gen- 
eral Butler had met a repulse at Great Bethel, and near 
Vienna Station a railroad train, conveying the Ohio troops, 
had run into an ambush ; both resulted in trifling losses, but 
were irritating to the pride of the North, and the fires of 
patriotic resentment once more blazed up with fresh inten- 
sity. It is no part of this paper to describe the Battle of 
Bull Run. Time will not permit. Suffice it to say, that it 
was a drawn battle, with, owing to a combination of cir- 
cumstances, the substantial fruits of victor}^ remaining with 
the Confederates. 

Perhaps, the result of this battle was all for the best, 
as the loyal North, for the first time, appreciated the mag- 
nitude of the task they had before them in conquering the 
rebellion. The countrv realized that something more than 
familiarity with the manual of arms, and company and 
battalion drill, and with boohs on the Art of War, was re- 
quired to make a good and effective soldier, and learned to be 
patient and to wait. The mission of the three months' volun- 
teers was accomplished. The Capital was saved. They were 
publicly thanked, and mustered out ; much the larger part of 
them reenlisted for three years. Many fine soldiers grad- 
uated from the ist and 2d Ohio regiments. The names of 
Generals Alexander McD. McCook, Wm, L. McMillen, 
and Ben. D. Fearing. Colonels Len. A. Harris, E. A. 



— 14 — 

Parrott, Anson G. McCook, John Kell, E. C. Mason, John 
Frazee, and O. C. Maxwell. Majors Parry, Vandegrift, 
Hampson, and Stafford. Captains Baldwin, Paddock, 
Ensworth, Pease, Harrell, Saunders, and many others 
whose names I do not recall, are part of the military 
records of our country's history. 

It is pleasant now, after the lapse of so man}^ years, 
to recall the events of nearly a quarter of a century ago, 
and to realize, that after so much blood and so many mil- 
lions of treasure were spent, the great rebellion was con- 
quered at last, and that we can with the poet (Holmes) say : 

" The good ship Union's voyage is o'er, 

At anchor safe she swings, 
And loud and clear with cheer on cheer 

Her joyous welcome rings : 
Hurrah! Hurrah! it shakes the wave, 

It thunders on the shore, — 
One flag, one land, one heart, one hand. 

One Nation evermore!" 



